(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display control device for use in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such a copier, printer, facsimile machine or the like and an image forming apparatus including the control device, in particular, relating to an image display control device capable of displaying plural pages of document images in a preview representation as well as to an image forming apparatus including the same.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there have been recording systems which include a post-processing apparatus that performs stapling and/or other processes on recorded matter output from an image forming apparatus so as to produce individual complete recorded matter after image forming and processing.
In such a recording system, it is usual that the user selects the position of stapling on the recording paper to be the recorded matter in advance.
However, by just performing key selection on the control panel in order to perform staple finishing, it is impossible to grasp how and where the recording paper as the recorded matter will be stapled. As a result, there occur some cases in which printed paper is stapled at wrong positions and hence just go to waste, being unable to provide expected recorded matter.
To deal with this, as the prior art there has been a proposal of a system in which some lamps (indicating means) that show the state of the recording paper with printed images being stapled are provided near the document set position so that if the user selects the desired position of stapling on the recording paper through a control unit, the lamps inform the user that stapling operation will be implemented on the recording paper with images recorded (see Patent document 1).
However, in the above method it is unknown how the actual output of recorded matter is stapled, hence there is the problem that it is difficult for the user to understand whether the paper that is stapled at the positions the user wanted will be output. That is, there still remains the problem of the copying operation being done faultily.
As a measure against this, a technique has been recently proposed in which the state of the finished paper is displayed in advance by a preview display function provided for an image display control device that permits the user to select and control on the control screen mounted on an image forming apparatus or the like (see Patent Document 2).    Patent Document 1:
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open H03-48865    Patent Document 2:
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open 2008-70835
However, according to the above-described prior art, though it is possible to check the finished condition, there is still problem that it is difficult for the user to visually grasp the relationship between the state of the images formed on recording paper and the finished position of each recorded material with images formed. There is also the problem that the demand that the user wants to check every page of the finished paper in a feeling as if the user is turning over the page of the actual printed matter is not supported.